So this happened...

This evening I had a notification through Facebook that someone had shared one of my photos. Here is how it was shared.

As you can see I have done the service of blocking out the name of the reposter and the one person who by the time I had seen it liked their attitudes. They did not do me the same keeping the person whose picture they were posting in the link (it can easily be removed). There is potential there for the poster to open somebody that they do not know up to abuse from others who have read their comments and decide to take action.

This person is someone that I do not even know, we only have one friend in common. It is currently up as my cover picture as a celebration of the Scottish Parliament passing their equal marriage legislation and the fact that same-sex marriages are now recognised in England and Wales and will soon also be carried out there.

It is a sad reflection that some Christians consider that any group set up by people of faith who want to help others of faith who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transexual to be able to come to terms with how they are created by God is a group of "filthy disgusting perverts". Sadly as many in the Faith and Pride group know only too well from personal experience once they realise their own sexual orientation, they often find in Northern Ireland that there is little visible support from the overwhelming majority of churches. They are condemned out of hand as the poster above has done as though they are sexually active. It is assumed that if you are LGBT you must be practicing sexual acts with all and sundry and that you have no self control.

Now I'll admit I'm not a saint in that department, but there are times that I have been accused by people in churches for being someone who practices the homosexual lifestyle (yeah that is a phrase I have heard), when at the time I would have been able to give blood anywhere in the UK except Northern Ireland.

However, it is the people who consider that the set of people who have faith and those who are LGBT are exclusive of each other that do harm to all those young people who grow up and worship in their midst for fear of being found out.Thankfully there are more groups like Faith and Pride out there that offer support to those individuals. Sadly we do not always get to all of them in time but other people could show Christ-like love and unconditionally love these people rather than jumping to conclusions such as these and showing nothing but hate for the individual while claiming to "love the sinner and hate the sin". The comments above actually seem to hate the people pictured without knowing anything about any of them.

Update 16:34 15 March:

Our mutual friend stood up to defend me in the comments and the original poster has responded thus:

I don't care WHO he [ie me] is, his photo suggests he supports the evil depraved organisation "Faith and Pride", whose banner is being displayed in the photo... I have read their fb page, and they claim you can be both Christian AND gay! YOU CAN'T! A Christian is someone who has REPENTED, ie turned from all known sin, and placed their faith in Christ to cleanse and purify them, both legally and in reality. Yes, our sins don't all vanish overnight, sanctification takes a lifetime. But "Faith & Pride" actively PROMOTE homosexuality as normal and OK when the bible teaches it is WRONG. The "Faith & Pride" site owner claims to be "married" to another man. "Faith & Pride" contains articles TWISTING and perverting the bible's teaching on homosexuality, claiming that the plain meaning that it's wrong, actually means something else. People who claim you can be gay and Christian are in REBELLION against God. They need to repent, & turn their backs on ANY self-identification as gay, and pray God gives them the ability to be normal. God did not create people gay.


I consider this comment to be a personal attack on someone that they do not know. It is also potentially libelous. I had reported the original post to Facebook, but as with much such occasions of such homophobic comments wrapped up in biblical terms it has been refused. So in my feedback about the decision I have stated how disatisfied I am with this response.